The renowned choreographer, dancer and puppeteer Duda Paiva is pioneer of a new concept that encourages and extends the body language of the actor, combining contemporary dance and puppet manipulation with movement and voice as narrative tools directed by one mind. This concept establishes a deeper connection between the object and the manipulator and creates a poetic and fluid illusion.
Object Score is a theatrical method. The aim is to bring to life a fictitious/poetic body; an alter ego, an extension of the self, using the body as a landscape for the puppet and vice versa, so as to explore the space and create choreographic patterns. It is a very specific form of choreography for two bodies working under the same mind.
In this workshop, which involves puppet manipulation and dance, Duda Paiva presents his work methodology, focusing on the body, voice, movement and other narrative instruments.
At FIMFA Lx – International Festival of Puppetry and Animated Forms, we saw the excellence of his work in the shows Angel, in 2007, and Bastard!, in 2015, at Theatre São Luiz.
For: Puppeteers, actors, dancers, singers, circus artists,performing arts students
Number of participants: 10
Deadline for applications: 2 April 2024
The participants should bring:
-Movement-clothes for hands-on exercises.
-Participants can bring their own puppets, as long as they are articulated and not heavy.
Selection in order of registration after payment. Once the application has been analysed, its acceptance will be communicated and the method of payment for the workshop will be indicated.
We inform you that the limit number of registrations has been reached and all those selected have been contacted.
Given the high number of registrations, a waiting list was created.
PROJETO FUNICULAR An international training project on Puppetry by CAMa – Centro de Artes da Marioneta / A Tarumba | With the support of São Luiz Teatro Municipal.
“People who master this technique are a rare breed, multitasking creative dreamers, physical puppeteers.As Sally A. Stewart said about the definition of the total actor: An actor’s responsibility is not just to act, but to understand the art and especially the art of storytelling.”
-Duda Paiva
Controlling the mind
A major task for the puppeteer is to control his mind. If the puppeteer loses focus (even if it’s only for a split second), the puppet dies and the illusion is lost. For the puppet to become alive, the audience needs to believe that the puppet is thinking, that it has a will of its own. Movement should appear to be coming from the puppet itself, as if it’s the puppets’ decision to move. To achieve this, we use focus and breathing techniques.
After this, the puppeteer learns to transpose expression to his puppet, using key techniques like: breath, fingertip manipulation, countermovement and split focus.
Controlling the body
To bring another entity to life and making it to appear living independently from you, you first need to explore and control your own bodily properties.
Therefore, the first task of the O.S. Puppeteer is to train a high level of consciousness of his body. After this, he needs to learn to control his body, exploring its every muscle. To achieve this, we use: the Breathing exercises, Fletcher-Towel Work and Spine articulation.
During this training, puppets brought by Duda Paiva will be used.
The workshop is very physical.
BIO
The Brazilian-born Duda Paiva is a dancer, choreographer, puppeteer and stage director.
Trained as an actor and dancer in Brazil, and after studying Butoh with Kazuo Ohno in Tokyo, he moved to the Netherlands, where he has lived since 1996, and worked as a dancer and choreographer with several companies.
Adept at researching multidisciplinary art forms, Paiva pushes the boundaries of visual theatre and creates an exciting and unique language, in which he mixes contemporary dance and the puppet manipulation, giving body and life to characters that he himself builds, from a highly flexible foam that allows a wide variety of expressions, having become a reference in puppet theatre in Europe.
He is the artistic director of Duda Paiva Company, created in 2004. His company’s trademark multidisciplinary approach is based on contemporary dance, puppetry arts and multimedia. Its productions have been performed around the world and have received many prestigious awards.
The Duda Paiva Company won the Dutch dance prize, the Zwaan, with the show Avatara, a coproduction with Illusionary Rockaz Company, in 2023.
Paiva has given workshops at several universities, including the ESNAM – École Nationale Supérieure des Arts de la Marionnette (Charleville-Mézières, France), UQAM (Montreal, Canada), VCA (Melbourne, Australia) SESC (São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), Bialystok Akademy (Bialystok, Poland) or Sofia University (Sofia, Bulgaria).
Also visit tarumba.pt.
